This year's Forum will be held Wednesday, Nov. 7 and Thursday, Nov. 8 at the Baltimore Convention Center in Baltimore, Maryland.

The Mid-Atlantic All Hazards Forum (AHF) is a public-private partnership of Mid-Atlantic states and private corporations. It is sponsored by the All Hazards Consortium (AHC), a new 501c3 organization formed by the Mid-Atlantic states. This grass roots, first-of-its-kind initiative is a new regional model designed to improve regional preparedness in the broad areas of homeland security and emergency management by facilitating dialogue among state government leadership and increasing interaction between all of AHF's stakeholders:

• state and local governments;
  
• industry/private sector;
  
• universities; and
  
• non-profits (including volunteer and faith-based organizations).

Focusing on all three phases of a hazard (readiness, response, and recovery), the Forum's mission is to help build communication and forge relationships between states in the Mid-Atlantic region. Participating states include Delaware, the District of Columbia, Maryland, New Jersey, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and West Virginia.

One of the annual goals and deliverables of the AHF is to help collect information, share and distribute it across the U.S. to all states in order to help improve overall knowledge and coordination at the regional level. To accomplish this, the All Hazards Forum Annual Report (coming in January 2007) collectively produced and published, which summarizes the activities and lessons learned during the conference. It is a practical document that clearly communicates the issues and strategies in homeland security and emergency management as well as best practices and lessons learned from real disasters. The AHF Annual Report also serves as a working document for all stakeholders to learn about the region's issues, challenges, opportunities, and solutions.

The fourth annual AHF brings together both public and private sector stakeholders to share information from a regional perspective, build relationships, provide training, and further facilitate regional projects and initiatives.

The 2007 All Hazards Forum will be the annual summit meeting of the past year's efforts and serve as a springboard in the year's regional discussions and projects. Working closely with the U.S Department of Homeland Security, the AHF and the AHC, this AHF will serve as the year's consummate neutral Forum for networking, information sharing and business development for public and private stakeholders from across the Mid-Atlantic.

Please visit this web site often for detailed information on the upcoming 2007 All Hazards Forum, including corporate partners, association partners, program agenda, keynote speakers, special plenary and breakout sessions, registration information, and much more.

We look forward to seeing you there!

For Readiness ... For Growth ... For the Region.